Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in XPO, Inc. $XPO

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO) by 15.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 261,784 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 46,727 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in XPO were worth $50,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in XPO. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its position in XPO by 79.3% in the second quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 3,595,056 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $454,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589,759 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in XPO during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,304,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of XPO by 228,761.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,121,419 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120,929 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of XPO by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,267,881 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $810,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of XPO by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 3,652,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $496,423,000 after purchasing an additional 499,220 shares during the period. 97.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on XPO. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of XPO in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on XPO to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore raised shares of XPO from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $237.00 target price on shares of XPO in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of XPO in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, XPO presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.57.

XPO Price Performance

Shares of XPO stock opened at $214.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $25.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.68. XPO, Inc. has a one year low of $116.68 and a one year high of $232.05.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.12. XPO had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that XPO, Inc. will post 4.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at XPO

In other XPO news, Director Allison Landry sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.61, for a total transaction of $517,464.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,849 shares in the company, valued at $1,045,492.89. This trade represents a 33.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

XPO Company Profile

XPO Logistics, Inc is a global provider of transportation and logistics services, offering a broad portfolio of solutions designed to optimize supply chains for businesses of all sizes. The company’s operations span freight brokerage, less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping, full truckload transportation, last-mile delivery, contract logistics and global forwarding. XPO aims to leverage advanced technology and operational expertise to drive efficiency, visibility and reliability across end-to-end supply-chain networks.

In its freight brokerage segment, XPO connects shippers to a network of carriers through digital platforms that facilitate rate comparisons, booking, tracking and settlement.